My wife and I just bought our first "house"
It's a 2012 Heartland Big Country 3450TS with the huge slides! Gonna be full timers and new to just about every aspect of this!! The BC is a one owner that we picked up for 20k. It needs new carpet in the living room and some of the plastic trim pieces on the outside have seen better days, but it does come with custom vinyl side skirting and our first location is going to be 5 months in the Grand Tetons so hoping that will help keep us warmer. Our price range was 15-20k-ish which was putting us in the 2000-2009ish range for 5th wheels, but when the BC we bought was reduced from 24k to 20k we decided to take a look at it and it was hard to pass up on the huge slides, double fridge, and just general nicer looking interior and exterior of the 2012 model. We hope we made the right choice!
Bought a 2006 Ford F-350 (I'm aware of the infamous nature of these 6.0s, but Ford's were in our price range and I didn't want the older 7.3 chassis and I didn't want a 6.4 either and the 6.7s were way out of our range.) It was also a one owner with 188k bone stock miles so hoping it's made it past all the scary stuff and has proven itself. I've installed a nice Edge CTS2 to monitor all my temps so I don't do any damage. We do realize it may need "bulletproofed" at some point, but we're hoping that it gives us a couple good years first.
Mostly just saying "Hi" but had a couple questions.
Did the 2012 BCs come with a remote for things like Awning, Slides, Lights, etc? There is a spot in the underbelly where it looks like a remote or something was stored, but it's no longer there. Anyway I can check to see if it came with a remote? If it did and the remote is lost can I purchase a new one?
It has also had what I think is a Ranch Hitch Gooseneck Adapter w/ 8" offset installed on it from the dealer when the PO originally bought the trailer. I've read some scary things about these Gooseneck adapters but the 8" offset is nice cause I do have a shortbed pickup. I'll be picking the trailer up this weekend and hauling it about 275 miles to our current location and was just going to use the gooseneck setup, but once I'm home I've been considering getting rid of it and going to the fifth wheel. I do have the rails and a nice big sturdy Husky hitch. Thoughts?
I read on some forums guys that said they wouldn't even consider purchasing a 5th wheel that had a gooseneck adapter installed. It does have me a little worried, but I don't know how to even go about checking for any stress cracks? Would I have to remove the pinbox and cover on the underside of the overhang?
I'm no mechanic, but I'm pretty handy with your basic tools and I know I'm gonna get to really know this beast as the years progress. Any tips for a first timer? Any Heartland/Model specific tips for me? Excited to start this journey and I'm welcome to any thoughts/criticism/advice/etc.
In the meantime my wife and I have been reading and watching youtube videos about RV essentials, towing advice, etc. Already learned a bunch but you can never be too informed!! Thanks and HI!!
It's a 2012 Heartland Big Country 3450TS with the huge slides! Gonna be full timers and new to just about every aspect of this!! The BC is a one owner that we picked up for 20k. It needs new carpet in the living room and some of the plastic trim pieces on the outside have seen better days, but it does come with custom vinyl side skirting and our first location is going to be 5 months in the Grand Tetons so hoping that will help keep us warmer. Our price range was 15-20k-ish which was putting us in the 2000-2009ish range for 5th wheels, but when the BC we bought was reduced from 24k to 20k we decided to take a look at it and it was hard to pass up on the huge slides, double fridge, and just general nicer looking interior and exterior of the 2012 model. We hope we made the right choice!
Bought a 2006 Ford F-350 (I'm aware of the infamous nature of these 6.0s, but Ford's were in our price range and I didn't want the older 7.3 chassis and I didn't want a 6.4 either and the 6.7s were way out of our range.) It was also a one owner with 188k bone stock miles so hoping it's made it past all the scary stuff and has proven itself. I've installed a nice Edge CTS2 to monitor all my temps so I don't do any damage. We do realize it may need "bulletproofed" at some point, but we're hoping that it gives us a couple good years first.
Mostly just saying "Hi" but had a couple questions.
Did the 2012 BCs come with a remote for things like Awning, Slides, Lights, etc? There is a spot in the underbelly where it looks like a remote or something was stored, but it's no longer there. Anyway I can check to see if it came with a remote? If it did and the remote is lost can I purchase a new one?
It has also had what I think is a Ranch Hitch Gooseneck Adapter w/ 8" offset installed on it from the dealer when the PO originally bought the trailer. I've read some scary things about these Gooseneck adapters but the 8" offset is nice cause I do have a shortbed pickup. I'll be picking the trailer up this weekend and hauling it about 275 miles to our current location and was just going to use the gooseneck setup, but once I'm home I've been considering getting rid of it and going to the fifth wheel. I do have the rails and a nice big sturdy Husky hitch. Thoughts?
I read on some forums guys that said they wouldn't even consider purchasing a 5th wheel that had a gooseneck adapter installed. It does have me a little worried, but I don't know how to even go about checking for any stress cracks? Would I have to remove the pinbox and cover on the underside of the overhang?
I'm no mechanic, but I'm pretty handy with your basic tools and I know I'm gonna get to really know this beast as the years progress. Any tips for a first timer? Any Heartland/Model specific tips for me? Excited to start this journey and I'm welcome to any thoughts/criticism/advice/etc.
In the meantime my wife and I have been reading and watching youtube videos about RV essentials, towing advice, etc. Already learned a bunch but you can never be too informed!! Thanks and HI!!